Agaunum

Agaunumwas an outpost inRoman Switzerland,predecessor of the modern city ofSaint-Mauricein thecantonofValais,southwesternSwitzerland.It was used by theRoman Empirefor the collection of theQuadragesima Galliarum.^[1]In Christian tradition, Agaunum is known as the place ofmartyrdomof theTheban Legion.^[1]

Etymology

The wordAgaunumderives fromGaulishacaunum,meaning "saxum, stone, whetstone".^[2]The wordacaunaalso appears in compound nouns relating to "stone", for instance, as related byPliny.^[3]Ultimately, the word stems from theProto-Indo-Europeanroot*h₂ekmōn,meaning "stone" in several of the daughter languages.^[4]^[5]

The name is also attested as a deity calledAcaunoorAcaunus,leading scholars to argue that in this location there was a probable cult to a river deity.^[6]

The nameAgaunumis probably at the origin of French toponymAgonès,a commune in southern France.^[7]

In later Christian tradition

Agaunum is noted for the fact that the monks at the monastery of Agaunum performed perpetual prayers since its formation in 522 byKing Sigismund.^[8]

Near Agaunum, in a place still identifiable as a former temple toMercury,god of travellers, recently excavated behind the abbey's present sanctuary, a revelation led to the discovery of martyrs' bones during the time ofTheodore,Bishop of Octudurum (nowMartigny), who was in office 350. Theetiological narrativeexplaining the cache of human remains led to thecultof an entire Roman legion, the legendaryTheban Legion,martyred at the spot, when this entirely Christian legion refused to sacrifice to the EmperorMaximianand were put to death, bydecimation,one out of ten at a time, until all were martyred. Their leader according to the legend wasSaint Maurice.

The martyrology was written byEucherius, Bishop of Lyon,who died in 494. He wrote

"We often hear, do we not, a particular locality or city is held in high honour because of one single martyr who died there, and quite rightly, because in each case the saint gave his precious soul to the most high God. How much more should this sacred place, Agaunum, be reverenced, where so many thousands of martyrs have been slain, with the sword, for the sake of Christ."

Eucherius' telling of the legend reports that the shrine erected by Theodore was already in his time abasilicathat was the destination of pilgrims. It lay within the diocese of theBishop of Sion.The actual site of the martyrdom (or of the cache of bones) was pointed out to pilgrims as the "true place" thevrai lieu,a name it still carries, as Verroliez, according to localetymology.

In 515, the basilica became the center of a monastery built on land donated bySigismund of Burgundy,the first king of theBurgundiansto convert fromArianismto Trinitarian Christianity. His personal conversion was not pressed upon his Burgundian nobles. With the cooperation of the Catholic bishops, Sigismund set out to remake the existing hospice and community that already ministered to pilgrims around the shrine. The result was a unique development in its time: a monastery createdex nihilounder patronage, rather than one that developed organically around the person of a revered monk. Between 515 and 521, Sigismund lavishly endowed his royal foundation, and he transferred monks from other Burgundian monasteries, to ensure that a constant liturgy was kept. The liturgy, known as thelaus perennis"perpetual praise" of relays of choirs, was an innovation for Western Europe, imported fromConstantinople;it was distinctive to the abbey of St. Maurice and the practice spread widely from there.

St. Maurice's Abbeyat Agaunum was the chief abbey of the Burgundian kingdom. In the 10th century, theSaracensofFraxinetestablished an outpost near the abbey to control the Alpine passes. In 961, the relics of Maurice and the martyrs were conveyed to the new cathedral being erected atMagdeburgbyEmperor Otto Ibut the abbey has continued to flourish.

References

^^a ^bSaint-Maurice (municipality)inGerman,FrenchandItalianin the onlineHistorical Dictionary of Switzerland.
^De Jubainville, H. D'Arbois. "ÉTYMOLOGIE D'AGAUNUM NOM LATIN DE SAINT-MAURICE-EN-VALAIS." Revue Archéologique 20 (1869): 188-90. jstor.org/stable/41736653.
^Dottin, G. "La langue des anciens Celtes". In:Revue des Études Anciennes.Tome 7, 1905, n° 1. p. 41. [DOI:https://doi.org/10.3406/rea.1905.1374]; persee.fr/doc/rea_0035-2004_1905_num_7_1_1374
^Lacroix, Jacques.Les noms d'origine gauloise: La Gaule des combats.2e édition revue, corrigée et augmentée. Preface de Venceslas Krute. Paris: Éditions Errance. 2012. pp. 123-124.ISBN 978-2-87772-479-1
^Mallory, J. P.; Adams, D. Q. Entry "*h₄éḱmōn ", inThe Oxford introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European world.Oxford University Press. 2006. p. 121.ISBN 0-19-928791-0
^De Torrenté, Linda. "Autour de la signification à'Acaunus (Agaune)". pp. 301-308.
^Barruol, Guy. "Une dédicace inédite à Agonès (Hérault)". In:Revue archéologique de Narbonnaise,tome 19, 1986. p. 369 (footnote nr. 1). [DOI:https://doi.org/10.3406/ran.1986.1302] persee.fr/doc/ran_0557-7705_1986_num_19_1_1302
^A Catholic Dictionaryby William E. Addis, Thomas Arnold 2004ISBN 0-7661-9380-2page 656

External links

Agaunum,Catholic Encyclopedia
William B. Sweetser, Jr,"From Diocletian to Lenin and Beyond: The Continuing Witness of St. Maurice"
Official home page of Saint Maurice
Photos:St. Maurice's Abbey,Abbey Icon,Decoration of Abbey Church

Etymology

In later Christian tradition

References

External links

Further reading